Today is a what-could've-been day for soccer fans in Utah.

Not only was today supposed to be David Beckham's lone appearance at Rice-Eccles Stadium in 2007, but the match between Real Salt Lake and the L.A. Galaxy was actually supposed to mean something. Playoff positioning was supposed to be at stake, at least that's what both clubs expected out of themselves when the season kicked off nearly six months ago.

Instead, Beckham is in California nursing a variety of ailments. As for the late September showdown, it's meaningless — unless you consider a match between the two bottom-feeders of MLS meaningful.

With a month remaining in the season, the Galaxy (4-13-5, 17 points) own the worst record in MLS followed by Real Salt Lake (4-13-7, 19 points) and then Toronto FC (5-13-6, 21 points).

Despite the obvious drawbacks, tonight's match figures to be an entertaining one. With both teams still clinging to their unrealistic hope of making the playoffs, they are likely to come out with an aggressive mind-set in hopes of securing three points.

The atmosphere at Rice-Eccles Stadium should be exciting as well. Well over 20,000 tickets were sold to the match prior to Beckham spraining his knee earlier this month, which should make for the largest crowd of the season.

RSL's players are looking forward to the challenge and don't think for a minute that they're thinking about 2008 yet.

"We're getting paid to play soccer, and I'm so grateful for that opportunity," said RSL forward Alecko Eskandarian. "We get paid to come out here and play the game we love ... Players need to have pride and come out and work their butts off every single day."

Technically, Real Salt Lake hasn't been eliminated from playoff contention yet. Realistically though, RSL trails Chicago by 11 points for the eighth and final playoff spot with six matches remaining, and it would take a miracle to narrow the expansive gap.

RSL didn't help its cause either by finishing with an 0-2-1 record on its recently completed three-game road swing. It absolutely needed to lock up six or seven points but instead came home with one.

There were stretches at Houston, D.C. United and Toronto FC in which Real played well, but at the end of the day it just wasn't good enough — which has been an underlying theme all year.

"You can sit here and mope, but that's not going to help things get better," said Eskandarian, who admits he's done worrying about the playoffs.

He wants to end the season on a six-game winning streak just for the satisfaction associated with such a streak, not the slim hopes of qualifying for the 2007 playoffs.